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Surprising Canadiens pose serious threat to Bruins early on

With all due respect to Bar Refaeli and that gentleman who is going to make a career out of being the ugliest person to kiss Bar Refaeli, the most shocking thing you could see these days is the NHL standings.

There, you will find the Canadiens just one point behind the Bruins with 12 points (6-2-0). A win against the B’s Wednesday will put them atop the Northeast Division and potentially atop the Eastern Conference. Not bad for a team that everyone expected to be horrible.

Based on how they fared last season and all the changes they had undergone, the Canadiens were at the very least expected to be a mess early on. After finishing 28th in the league with 78 points last season and making changes at both coach (Michel Therrien is back for another stint after coaching the Habs for parts of three seasons from 2000 until 2003) and general manager (Marc Bergevin) as well as bringing in new players via the draft and free agency, the Canadiens logically were expected to struggle to throw everything -- including a new system -- together during a one-week training camp.

Factor in that they weren’t able to get a deal done with restricted free agent P.K. Subban during camp in time to get him caught up to speed, and the signs were there after the team’s opening night loss to the Maple Leafs that it would be another tough year for the bleu, blanc et rouge.

Much to the contrary, the Habs have been, as Yahoo! Sports’ Greg Wyshynski said on this week’s Pod Man Rush Podcast, “a bunch of badasses.” They’ve won six of their seven games since that loss to the Maple Leafs, and when the Bruins face the Canadiens on Wednesday they will face not only their biggest rival but perhaps their biggest threat in the division.

“It's always been there,” Johnny Boychuk said of the rivalry. “You guys might think that it kind of died down, but it's always fun playing against them. Now that we're battling for first place it just makes it that much more interesting.”

So why have the Habs been this good despite having only gotten two games out of Subban, who finally signed a two-year deal last week? There are plenty of reasons, between the health of Andrei Markov, the additions of a couple of key youngsters in third overall pick Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher and the usual strong play of workhorse Carey Price.

Injuries limited Markov to only 20 games over the last two seasons, and he played just 45 games in 2009-10. This season, he’s been healthy and terrific on the blue line. The 34-year-old (the same age as the aforementioned Refaeli-smootching gentleman. That guy’s 34. Crazy) has four goals (all on the power play) to go with four helpers for eight points. Three of his four tallies have been game-winners, none of which came in more dramatic fashion than his overtime goal against the Devils in the fourth game of the season.

“I had Andrei for a few years and he's been snake-bitten by those injuries, but he's a quality defenseman,” Claude Julien said of Markov. “He sees the ice well, really moves the puck well. He's got an unbelievable shot and he just controls everything back there. As much as they like P.K. Subban, there's a guy with more experience than P.K. when it comes to controlling the puck there and moving it around. I know for a fact that as long as he's healthy, they're a really good team back there.”

Markov hasn’t been the only difference-maker on the Habs’ blue line, as the play of Raphael Diaz (eight assists) and Francis Bouillon, among others, has given the Canadiens little to worry about on the back end. With Subban back in the mix, old friend Tomas Kaberle has been relegated to the press box as a healthy scratch.

Offensively, the Canadiens on Sunday saw the return of Max Pacioretty from an appendectomy, but it’s been a line on the team’s bottom six that has been especially intriguing. The 18-year-old Galchenyuk has thrived on a rather interesting line that teams the highly skilled center with Gallagher and tough guy Brandon Prust.

While skill often matches well with skill, having a fighter around in Prust hasn’t slowed Galchenyuk at all. He’s tied with Tomas Plekanec for the lead among Canadiens forwards with seven points (one goal and six assists).

The Bruins have benefited from matching skilled young players with fighters in the past. Look no further than 2010, when Brad Marchand had Shawn Thornton skating on the opposite wing. Julien liked it for the Bruins then and he likes it for the Habs now.

“I think first of all, you want [a young player] to be confident,” Julien said. “With a guy like Prust, for example, when Marchy had Thorny, he could go around and play his game and know that somebody was going to back him up. A lot of it is about confidence. Sometimes you look at a skill player playing with a guy that maybe has more grit than skill, but it does go a long ways, and right now I think they're just making sure that he's taken care of. We know Prust can do that.”

Indeed, Prust can, as he had over 150 penalty minutes in each of the last two seasons with the Rangers and has fought four times already this season.

As a matter of fact, the Canadiens in general seem a bit tougher than they have in years past. Julien admitted he sees them “playing with an edge this season,” an observation that can be backed up by the fact that they have taken five or more minor penalties in five of their first eight games this season (man, an opponent with a power play could work wonders with that).

Despite the Canadiens presenting more of a physical challenge, the name of the game remains skill in Montreal.

“No doubt, they've added some bigger bodies, but their game is still the same,” Julien said. “It's about speed, it's about transition, it's about attack, and that hasn't changed.”

Regardless of what type of game the Canadiens throw at the B’s on Wednesday, the Bruins would be foolish -- and a second-place team -- if they were to take them lightly.

“We've got to go in there and be ready,” Julien said. “When we've gone in there and haven't done the job that we should have against that team, they've made us pay for it.“

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